Microsoft Surface

Would we be able to run some of our Steam library through MS Surface and Windows 8?

That would be.... cool Heck, I'd love to have some older titles like Starcraft 1 or Fallout running on a tablet.

Irongut wrote:

Would we be able to run some of our Steam library through MS Surface and Windows 8?

That would be.... cool Heck, I'd love to have some older titles like Starcraft 1 or Fallout running on a tablet.

Yes, for the Pro model.

I don't see how for the majority of titles on steam, 'AAA' or not, it would be any cooler than doing it on a laptop now. You'll get a few that work well with a touchscreen, and then the rest you need a keyboard and mouse, at which point I'd be thinking "If I wanted a desktop replacement style laptop, why didn't I buy one".

It will be interesting to see what PC game devs do with a touchscreen windows device, though.

I wonder what the fragmentation risk between the 2 models is. It seems that the Pro is far more likely to be attractive to development.

Scratched wrote:
Mex wrote:

o_0 Did they try to clone Steve Jobs?

Yes, one of the things about the apple presentations is that they are/were apparently rehearsed down to minute detail. One of the biggest companies on the planet shouldn't be saying "oops" or "let me get another one"

Yep, never a failure at an Apple press conference. Nope. Never.

Scratched wrote:

I don't see how for the majority of titles on steam, 'AAA' or not, it would be any cooler than doing it on a laptop now. You'll get a few that work well with a touchscreen, and then the rest you need a keyboard and mouse, at which point I'd be thinking "If I wanted a desktop replacement style laptop, why didn't I buy one".

Because you also want tablet stuff and form factor for on the go?

If Microsoft can pull off solid hardware plus the keyboard cover working well, I think they'll do really well in an enterprise sense; MS clearly makes loads of money in the business world, and combining the portability and ease of a tablet plus the ability to make it laptop-ish enough will give them the opportunity to put loads of these things in businesses. The x86 ones, if they're very compatible with older-gen versions of Office and other productivity apps, could make huge chunks of change for Microsoft.

Apple aims at consumers. Microsoft does to an extent, but the business world is a huge part of their market share. A tablet/laptop-lite that can run all sorts of things? Yeah, sounds quite good.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

If Microsoft can pull off solid hardware plus the keyboard cover working well, I think they'll do really well in an enterprise sense; MS clearly makes loads of money in the business world, and combining the portability and ease of a tablet plus the ability to make it laptop-ish enough will give them the opportunity to put loads of these things in businesses. The x86 ones, if they're very compatible with older-gen versions of Office and other productivity apps, could make huge chunks of change for Microsoft.

Apple aims at consumers. Microsoft does to an extent, but the business world is a huge part of their market share. A tablet/laptop-lite that can run all sorts of things? Yeah, sounds quite good.

Why doesn't GWJ have a Dislike button? I do not like this post. The idea that different devices could appeal to different demographics who have different needs is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Dan, I want you to apologize to everyone here for what you wrote and then write 500 times: "There can be only one product for all people. Praise the All Product!"

I'm looking forward to all of the more "legitimate" tablet users to pick up a Surface and start talking about how great their tablet is and what they use it for, as though those "less legitimate" tablet users have been enjoying the tablet experience for a long time already.

As an iPad owner, I know that I can't fully comprehend the limitations Apple as placed on me, nor do I realize just how shallow my experience with it has been so far (even though it has enhanced my personality and made me much more popular). But hopefully I can get my hands on a Surface, so I can finally be enlightened.

I'm l actually really looking forward to the Surface. I love my WP7 phone, so this should be a nice transition.

I have loved the iPad since we picked up an original. It gets used by my wife, daughter and me every single day. My daughter has it with her during the days now for her Orchestrating Diversity program, where she can load up sheet music on it to play, and then read comics on her breaks.

A better tablet is always welcome. So far, no one has produced one, which has surprised me. I figured someone would copy the iPad well enough to slap a different name on it and sell it to all of the anti-Apple fanboys.

EDIT: Forget it, not bothering with this anymore.

I'm looking forward to mocking Surface Pro owners who buy it because of that "cool" touch keyboard cover, which no one has been allowed to actually try so far. That it has cooling vents is getting overlooked by a lot of folks who would just as easily gripe that the iPad 3's display makes it occasionally warm to the touch. While I'm interested in the stylus capabilities, I've already been burned by every generation of the Zune failing to live up to its promise because of their corporate ineptitude.

Jayhawker wrote:

I'm looking forward to all of the more "legitimate" tablet users to pick up a Surface and start talking about how great their tablet is and what they use it for, as though those "less legitimate" tablet users have been enjoying the tablet experience for a long time already.

As an iPad owner, I know that I can't fully comprehend the limitations Apple as placed on me, nor do I realize just how shallow my experience with it has been so far (even though it has enhanced my personality and made me much more popular). But hopefully I can get my hands on a Surface, so I can finally be enlightened.

I really don't understand this. Because some people want more of a dual mode device, are you implying they are looking down on people who love the ipad?

Why does this always devolve like this? They're different products. Pick the one that fits your needs. Be happy. It's a piece of tech.

This is like console wars.

MannishBoy wrote:
Jayhawker wrote:

I'm looking forward to all of the more "legitimate" tablet users to pick up a Surface and start talking about how great their tablet is and what they use it for, as though those "less legitimate" tablet users have been enjoying the tablet experience for a long time already.

As an iPad owner, I know that I can't fully comprehend the limitations Apple as placed on me, nor do I realize just how shallow my experience with it has been so far (even though it has enhanced my personality and made me much more popular). But hopefully I can get my hands on a Surface, so I can finally be enlightened.

I really don't understand this. Because some people want more of a dual mode device, are you implying they are looking down on people who love the ipad?

Why does this always devolve like this? They're different products. Pick the one that fits your needs. Be happy. It's a piece of tech.

This is like console wars.

I agree, it's kind of ridiculous.

Also, Coke is better than Pepsi.

MannishBoy wrote:

I really don't understand this. Because some people want more of a dual mode device, are you implying they are looking down on people who love the ipad?

Why does this always devolve like this? They're different products. Pick the one that fits your needs. Be happy. It's a piece of tech.

This is like console wars.

Praise the All Product!

MannishBoy wrote:
Jayhawker wrote:

I'm looking forward to all of the more "legitimate" tablet users to pick up a Surface and start talking about how great their tablet is and what they use it for, as though those "less legitimate" tablet users have been enjoying the tablet experience for a long time already.

As an iPad owner, I know that I can't fully comprehend the limitations Apple as placed on me, nor do I realize just how shallow my experience with it has been so far (even though it has enhanced my personality and made me much more popular). But hopefully I can get my hands on a Surface, so I can finally be enlightened.

I really don't understand this. Because some people want more of a dual mode device, are you implying they are looking down on people who love the ipad?

Why does this always devolve like this? They're different products. Pick the one that fits your needs. Be happy. It's a piece of tech.

This is like console wars.

I'm with you. I don't want the iPad to be better than the Surface or vice-verse. I want them both to be awesome, that way I win no matter which I choose.

MannishBoy wrote:
Jayhawker wrote:

I'm looking forward to all of the more "legitimate" tablet users to pick up a Surface and start talking about how great their tablet is and what they use it for, as though those "less legitimate" tablet users have been enjoying the tablet experience for a long time already.

As an iPad owner, I know that I can't fully comprehend the limitations Apple as placed on me, nor do I realize just how shallow my experience with it has been so far (even though it has enhanced my personality and made me much more popular). But hopefully I can get my hands on a Surface, so I can finally be enlightened.

I really don't understand this. Because some people want more of a dual mode device, are you implying they are looking down on people who love the ipad?

Why does this always devolve like this? They're different products. Pick the one that fits your needs. Be happy. It's a piece of tech.

This is like console wars.

Yeah, you are right. I should probably delete it, since it was in response to PA's long post about how Apple users tend to just be fashion conscious, and he deleted his post.

Just so you know, I would not consider buying an iPad 3 until checking out the Surface. I think it looks awesome. I love my WP7 phone, and will be getting a WP8 phone in January. Getting a Windows 8 tablet makes sense.

Agent 86 wrote:

I'm with you. I don't want the iPad to be better than the Surface or vice-verse. I want them both to be awesome, that way I win no matter which I choose.

I can see the good things about the ipad. It's a very focused, well designed, curated piece of tech that does consumption very well.

That's not something I want for me, but I can see it's value.

On the other hand, I can also see how MS's path might be interesting. It could be this Surface thing is total crap, but right now it's interesting for somebody like me that really doesn't need an ipad or an Android tablet, but might go for something that includes that type of functionality, but also allows for more traditional computing at other times. The question is if it's too schizophrenic to do anything well. Time will tell.

Jayhawker wrote:

Yeah, you are right. I should probably delete it, since it was in response to PA's long post about how Apple users tend to just be fashion conscious, and he deleted his post.

Just so you know, I would not consider buying an iPad 3 until checking out the Surface. I think it looks awesome. I love my WP7 phone, and will be getting a WP8 phone in January. Getting a Windows 8 tablet makes sense.

I get that. But I don't think he said all Apple people were like that. But you have to admit there are some that are. Just like there are MS people, Linux people, Google people, etc.

I admit that I'm generally not that interested in Apple stuff because of their ecosystem. So I'm a bit biased. What worries me most about MS's direction is that they're trying to follow that same path and going away from what has made Windows what it was for so long. Namely an open market where anybody could build software and run it without MS's blessing. Metro and it's app store seems to be going away from allowing that, and it's worrisome. I don't want my PC to be as locked down as a 360 (not that I'm saying it will, but that's the other extreme).

Jayhawker wrote:

Yeah, you are right. I should probably delete it, since it was in response to PA's long post about how Apple users tend to just be fashion conscious, and he deleted his post.

That's only what my post said if many words are removed from it but whatever.

One thing's for sure, this is going to be an interesting Fall in the tablet realm.

MannishBoy wrote:

I admit that I'm generally not that interested in Apple stuff because of their ecosystem. So I'm a bit biased. What worries me most about MS's direction is that they're trying to follow that same path and going away from what has made Windows what it was for so long. Namely an open market where anybody could build software and run it without MS's blessing. Metro and it's app store seems to be going away from allowing that, and it's worrisome. I don't want my PC to be as locked down as a 360 (not that I'm saying it will, but that's the other extreme).

This times 1000. The uber-closed, wanting to control and own everything even after you've paid your money isn't a problem unique to Apple at all. But the lack of this was what I always found to be the PC's greatest strength. My worry with Windows 8 is that Microsoft's trying to make the RT tablets exactly that and I'm concerned that as Windows continues to evolve in the future, the desktop side will get more and more like that too. Those systems can provide end user benefits such as security and simplicity but they're designed first and foremost to keep making the platform holders a piece of the pie even after they've already been paid for an entire pie. It is exactly how consoles work but I don't mind it there because that's a device with a focused purpose. Computers are far more generalised and I worry about those who like and can utilise more open systems losing the ability to do so.

Scratched wrote:

I don't see how for the majority of titles on steam, 'AAA' or not, it would be any cooler than doing it on a laptop now. You'll get a few that work well with a touchscreen, and then the rest you need a keyboard and mouse, at which point I'd be thinking "If I wanted a desktop replacement style laptop, why didn't I buy one".

I'm travelling with work and a laptop already. Travelling with two laptops (and their power bricks) is a bit much. Tablets fit in my bag nicely alongside my locked-down non-gamer work laptop and so in that sense, I think it would be cool in the 'neat-o!" sense to be able to slide a pc compatible tablet in my bag for some good ol pc gaming.

I'm not trying to be hip or anything.

Irongut wrote:
Scratched wrote:

I don't see how for the majority of titles on steam, 'AAA' or not, it would be any cooler than doing it on a laptop now. You'll get a few that work well with a touchscreen, and then the rest you need a keyboard and mouse, at which point I'd be thinking "If I wanted a desktop replacement style laptop, why didn't I buy one".

I'm travelling with work and a laptop already. Travelling with two laptops (and their power bricks) is a bit much. Tablets fit in my bag nicely alongside my locked-down non-gamer work laptop and so in that sense, I think it would be cool in the 'neat-o!" sense to be able to slide a pc compatible tablet in my bag for some good ol pc gaming.

I'm not trying to be hip or anything.

You can't be hip without one of these actually

MannishBoy wrote:

Don't expect low end prices. Expect prices like what higher end Android tablets hit to ipad prices. So at least $450 to start at the low end. Maybe even $500 directly against the current gen ipad entry point.

If this article proves to be anywhere near accurate, I guess you're right and I'm wrong about the pricing of the RT version.

Microsoft outsource Surface tablets to Pegatron; expected prices above US$599

The sources also estimated the end-market price of the Windows 8 Pro-based Surface tablet PC with Ivy Bridge processor to be at least above US$799, while the Windows RT-based model, featuring Nvidia's Tegra 3, will be priced above US$599.

Another rumor from DigiTimes: Microsoft own-brand tablet PCs a ploy to drive Windows 8 adoption, says Acer founder

Acer founder Stan Shih has commented that Microsoft has no real intention to sell own-brand tablet PCs and the offering is an ploy to boost adoption of Windows 8.

Microsoft hopes that marketing its own-brand tablet PCs will encourage vendors to offer Windows 8 tablet PCs and thereby help expand market demand for the product line, Shih analyzed. Once the purpose is realized, Microsoft will not offer more models, Shih said.

I am sorry I am jaded but my experience with the iPad is dealing with people who saw it as a miracle device. And when it didn't perform miracles and replace everything, they hand it to you to make it do miracles for them.

It is a great device and plenty of people are aware of its limitations and use it within its intended purposes. However, there are also a lot of clueless "What do you mean it can't peel an orange? You're a go to computer guy, I want it to peel oranges." users.

Seriously, I had someone actually create a helpdesk ticket for IT to find a plugin or software that gives the iPad multi-login support. Which, as far as I know the only software that might do that (on a limited scale) requires you to jailbreak your iPad. So this isn't some informal request. This is official and reflects negatively on my company's performance. (outsourced IT)

EDIT: Actually nevermind.
Suffice it to say that unrealistic expectations from tech aren't just in the business world but in education and learning support as well.

If it's true that Microsoft intends to start the 32GB RT tablet starting at $600, then they're squarely aimed at the business market. They must be because at that price, they've already lost the consumer battle.

You beat me to my edit.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

The iPad actually does work pretty well as an alternative to a talker or sound board for some people who are disabled and have trouble with speech.

For those cases where there aren't other factors such as severely restricted mobility or cognitive issues at play. But because it works so well for some it is expected to work well for everyone and that bubble of hope is very very painful to pop for families that are grasping at ways to help their sons and daughters develop.

Mex wrote:

You can't be hip without one of these actually

IMAGE(http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/264/200/acb.jpg)

Parallax Abstraction wrote:

If it's true that Microsoft intends to start the 32GB RT tablet starting at $600, then they're squarely aimed at the business market. They must be because at that price, they've already lost the consumer battle.

Agreed.